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iaabraham
Community Member

Shameful Job Post

I know this post will get zapped but this is so appalling I have to post it anyway:

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

10 REPLIES 10
prestonhunter
Community Member

You said that in your personal opinion, the job post is "shameful" and "appalling."

 

Why do you feel that way?

 

I noticed that the client is payment-verified, has 40 reviews, and a star-average of 5 stars from freelancers.

Preston said:

I noticed that the client is payment-verified, has 40 reviews, and a star-average of 5 stars from freelancers.

 

and that is the worst

gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

It's not inconceivable to me that a freelancer living someplace where $5/hour is decent money could have exceptional command of English and qualify for this gig. If such FLs exist, don't they deserve to use UW to connect with clients? To the extent such FLs do not exist and the client is looking for a unicorn, then they'll get what they're willing to pay for. Either way, I don't understand the view that the job post is "shameful." Whether we like it or not, and whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we live in a global economy. Those of us who require more than $5/hour to subsist have to find ways to earn what we need, by differentiating ourselves from lower-rate competitors or by finding a different category. 

 

In my research practice, my most challenging competition is the existence of DIY survey tools that effectively devalue the entire discipline. So I'm constantly seeking ways to refine my offerings and presentation and redefine and re-redefine my target market. I see projects on UW all the time for which I'd be perfect and could bring tons of value to the clients, but they are not prepared to invest what it would take to do a quality job. So those jobs are not for me.

iaabraham
Community Member

For me this is shameful because I am in one of those places where supposedly people can live decently off $5/hr. That's an illusion.

 

We're living in 2020; no matter where you're located, $5/hr is not decent pay. And the category of my work (or any for that matter) does not deserve to be lumped in such a low bracket.

 

Obviously there will be jobs like this on Upwork, but I definitely don't think they should be allowed to be posted under the "$$$ - Expert" category -- there has to be some sort of minimum standard for this thing. What happened to Upwork attracting high-quality clients?

 

My issue is not really with the freelancers who accept these jobs; sometimes they're desperate or new. But I find the job post quite shocking/insulting -- the listings like these set a precedent for an expectation of quality work for peanuts.

 

**Edited to add: Even when I was just starting out on Upwork / with freelancing, living dependently and in another developing country, I was charging nearly double $5/hr. That, of course, was when the site was still oDesk and there were still many great clients on it.

 

I guess I feel very strongly about this issue compared to others. I suppose I just have to deal with that seeing as the quality of clients/jobs on the site don't seem to be improving anytime soon.

Isabelle, I don't blame you at all if you feel frustrated by job postings that don't meet your standards. There is nothing wrong with your standards and there is nothing wrong with your beliefs about what constitutes an acceptable freelancer job, or acceptable pay.

 

Upwork provides a platform for a VERY wide variety of jobs. There is a lot of diversity here, and by definition, that means there will be job postings that fall outside of our comfort zone.


Preston H wrote:

 

Upwork provides a platform for a VERY wide variety of jobs. There is a lot of diversity here, and by definition, that means there will be job postings that fall outside of our comfort zone.


I understand that perfectly, but I also don't believe they should be allowed to lump their cheap jobs under the $$$/Expert category. It's not only misleading, but it sets an impression that that's the sort of rate top-tier freelancers should expect for hard work.

 

No matter where we're located or what kind of work we do, I think we can ALL agree that $5/hr does not belong in that category.

Diversity is good.  Clients should have the freedom to set their rates and freelancers can choose whether to accept or move on.  In theory this is all good.  In practice though, zero regulation leads to posts where a client is offering 5$ for Google, and are really just a waste of everyone's time - The client's time and the tens of freelancers who unwittingly read halfway through the post only to realize they're not the unicorn the client wants. It's also lost revenue for Upwork because it clutters the job feed and diverts freelancers from other jobs which are much more likely to materialize.

I agree with Isabelle, I think there should at least be a reasonable minimum rate for those who request "$$$ Experts", otherwise what is the point of this category anyways?


Sherif R wrote:

Diversity is good.  Clients should have the freedom to set their rates and freelancers can choose whether to accept or move on.  In theory this is all good.  In practice though, zero regulation leads to posts where a client is offering 5$ for Google, and are really just a waste of everyone's time - The client's time and the tens of freelancers who unwittingly read halfway through the post only to realize they're not the unicorn the client wants. It's also lost revenue for Upwork because it clutters the job feed and diverts freelancers from other jobs which are much more likely to materialize.

I agree with Isabelle, I think there should at least be a reasonable minimum rate for those who request "$$$ Experts", otherwise what is the point of this category anyways?


Exactly, even more so now that Upwork is categorizing its freelancers according to Top Rated Plus, Expert-Vetted, etc. (although I don't know if Expert-Vetted is available for my field yet). It also asks to set our experience level in our settings. Why do this if they won't establish minimum standards anyway?

 

And just to mention, I have no issue with a variety of rates offered. That's the whole point of the freelancing marketplace, and I see cheap rates offered all the time without crying about it in the forums. My main issue is how they're expecting/demanding experts and allowed to place their job in that category when they are offering very close to the minimum hourly rate that Upwork has set. At the very least it is like Sherif said: a waste of time and cluttering up the job posts in that category. At worst, it's diminishing the value of that category and setting unreasonable expectations for freelancers.

Upwork should at least separate the $/$$/$$$ categorization from the Entry/Intermediate/Expert categorization, so that clients can select Expert + $, if that's what they're looking for, and we can filter out those jobs from our feeds if we want to.


Richard W wrote:

Upwork should at least separate the $/$$/$$$ categorization from the Entry/Intermediate/Expert categorization, so that clients can select Expert + $, if that's what they're looking for, and we can filter out those jobs from our feeds if we want to.


Yeah. I've read the point that what's considered $$$ in one place or field won't be considered $$$ in another. So it's difficult to categorize, and that's a fair point. But there should be some attempt to separate these -- and I think everyone can agree that $5/hr does not belong in the $$$ category. (I don't think it should be anywhere need the Expert categorization either, but others may argue about that!)

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